Toyota
reviews and complaints

I have add a recent issue with the radiator hose on my 2008 Toyota Solara conv. The car had 36, 300 miles on it when the upper hose blew out near the radiator connection; which is about 3" from the adjacent unshielded exhaust header.
I had the car towed to my local certified mechanic. (I am currently unemployed and due to the fact the car was out of warranty I did not feel I could afford to take it to a Toyota dealer for service; the repair cost$135 the dealer would have charged $185+.) I took pictures of the hose and surrounding area before any repair work was done. I went to the local dealership with the photos and repair invoice but was told that because the repair was done by an outside mechanic using an after market hose there was nothing they could do about it. Toyota Customer Service said the same thing; however they did offer me a $150 reimbursement on future repairs. I believe the failure of the hose was caused by the extreme heat caused by its close proximity to the exhaust header or the hose was just defective. I no longer have faith in Toyota quality.

12/30/2010
Several months ago we went into Lithia Toyota Medford store. Met JR the salesman. Showed us a nice Silverado 4WD, so we drove it with JR in front also. It had a "bump" on shifting and startoff. Told him we'd take this truck if he FIXED IT FIRST. I'm 63, Disabled Vet, I've been around the block a time or two. I was told by JR, "dont mention it till AFTER the sale, we have great warranty and will be fixed then.His PERSONAL guarantee, after voicing my concerns he guaranteed me couple more times it would be repaired. He and I talked at length about why I shouldn't do that, and upon receiving his verbal guarantee of repair we bought it. HMMM, , , , 4 trips to the Service Dept, still have the problem. At one point they told me it was NORMAL for that truck. No repair needed. Another time they told me it was break pads releasing from the rotors causing a bump. Finally had enough, confronted JR about HIS guarantee. It was set up for me to take it to Airport Chev in Medford. They acknowlege there is a problem, but werent authorized to look for the cause. Bottom line? I still have a poor shifting truck that shifts with a bump. Went right down and personally confronted JR. Bottom line, nothing he can do. I'm going to court soon, and putting a sticker type decal on the tailgate warning of doing business with Lithia in Medford. OH, he offered to take it back on another truck, paying wholesale on tradein. Paying to rid myself of this truck. Nope, I'm going to an independant shop, getting it repaired then going to court with them. BEWARE! Don't trust! Aftermarket warranties aren't worth ANYTHING! The money spent is just thrown away. I say stay a3way from ALL Lithia, this could have been avoided but they chose the route, I'm on it till the dead end. Lithia is NOT the place to do business.

Based on the Service call back letter from Toyota, I took my car to the authorized toyota dealer. I gave them the car on 18th Nov'10 @ 10.30 AM and they advised me to take the car @ 3.30 PM, however when I went to pick my car, Sale Ops Director and Serivce Manager told me that, during servicing my car slipped from the hydrolic jack and its roof and back side got damaged. They said, it will be repaired and will give back my car in 1-2 weeks. I said, you will fix the exterior problems, what if in future there is some internal problems happens due to this accident ? Also, now my car will have a salvage title or its value will definately depricated, how you going to meet out that ? Can anybody advise me - what options I have and what all things I can negotiate on ?

I drove down to their dealershp from west palm and they played the oldest con in the world - when i inquired about a 2010 Toyota Corolla they were advertising in the local paper I was told by the salesperson and by the manager the ad was a misprint - what bs! i was so upset to hear that. even if it was i don't think you should say that to the customer - just honor the price. that's the right thing to do! they never offered that.

i would steer clear of these guys. they are just a bunch of crooks!

I'm Ramakrishnan the owner of a brand new camry 2009 which has been assembled in thailand and has been imported to malaysia.Overall the car is good to be driven.But since i bought this car whenever I drive the car drifting to the LHS.The terrible thing is the car shooting to the left suddenly in wet road condition.we have made a lot of complaints against the car but they still have not rectified the problem and they just deny the complain, I feel strongly the car is not fit to be on the road and they have delivered to me a dangerous car.

I placed an order and days later, website says order pending. There's no telephone number and only an email address which after sending multiple emails, they don't reply.

I am a Toyota Owner. I bought Toyota Vios at May 2008. Unfortunately, my car broke down on the road on 16 November 2010 and whole system can’t functioning includes of brake, steering and engine. I waited hours to push the car and restart it. I sent it to Toyota center Sitiawan and I get appointment days later to check and survey on the problem exist. They told me that my Car’s Oxygen Sensor got problem, they must get a new one to replace it and they have re-set the PC (electronic setting) board.
Anyway, I met accident on 24 November 2010 and I found that the air bag dysfunction and caused me injured. This is really disappointed me and I can’t find why there is failure happened and it seems worst where we has been convinced earlier that Toyota Air Bag will protect the driver. My head injured and undergone surgery to do skin grafting. I am only 27 years old (young) and still working at Ministry of Transport. Because of the airbag failure, I’m forced to face the impact and consequences in term of psychologically and physically which is unfair to me and my family members. YOU MUST BE RESPONSIBLE!

TING TAI FOOK
Private Secretary to Minister of Transport Malaysia
[protected]@yahoo.com
[protected]@mot.gov.my

Since we purchased my wifes new 2009 Toyota Canry LE we have taken it to David Maus for Oil change and tire rotation every 5000 miles. The car now has about 53, 000 miles. The last time it was serviced I decided to mark a tire on the car to see if they were really rotating the tires as requested and paid for. When I reeived the car and returned home I noticed that the tire I marked was still in the same position on the vehicle as it was when I took it in for service. This tells me the tires were never rotated. Since this was about the 10th servic, e each with a tire rotation that was charged for, I wonder how many times we were charged and the service was never performed. They will not get another
opportunity to ripe us off again

On November 18, 2010, my husband took our 2008 Toyota 4-Runner to Waldorf Toyota for its regular 30, 000 mile maintenance. This was the Thursday before Thanksgiving and we were planning to go away for Thanksgiving, so we wanted to make sure the car was in perfect condition. We had a 10:15 a.m. appointment. We have a service receipt from the dealership which shows that they changed the oil, rotated the tires and checked the car over. My husband was told that the car was ready. On his way home from the dealership, the left front tire fell off the car. This occurred while the car was in motion. When it happened, the car went to the left. Luckily no one was in the left lane beside of him. He was able to pull the car into a gas station on the right side of the road, but extensive damage was done to the car. The body was torn up from the left front fender past the left front door. We don't know what kind of damage was done to the engine. In order to get the car off the road, he had to drive it with metal scraping pavement.

Pictures are available upon request.

We had a RAV4 2002 Model, and early this year, problem presented itself as a transmission issue with hard shift into reverse; starting off in 2d or 3d gear. Engine was bogging down dropping in and out of gear. Several times, it was bucking violently (scared the crap outa me!) with a large truck bearing down on me. The check engine light never came on which made me wonder if it was really just the transmission. I brought it to the local Toyota dealership and was told the next day that the transmission and the ECU need to be replaced, and cost estimated about $5000. Too expensive to afford. I knew the car in it's present state was unsafe to drive. I decided to check out this site to see if anyone else had similar problems. What a revelation! I was able to get a local mechanic to pull my ECM out. I sent it to Check Engine ETC in Brooklyn N.Y..They rebuilt my ECU and my car is now running smoothly. I asked him to drain the transmission fluid and check for metal filings. Thanks to this site and Check Engine ETC I saved myself some huge money.

However, after a couple of months, we got a letter from toyota motor sales USA, inc., telling us that certain 2001 to 2003 rav4 vehicles with transmission problems and had repair before could have the expenses reimbursed.
I sent all my documents and expenses receipts to Toyota, but was denied to reimburse to me, because I had my ECU rebuilt/repair, but not replaced.
What a stupid policy. We are not happy with this decision and will never buy Toyota anymore.

The following is the letter we sent to Toyota customer service early this month.

November 06, 2010

THIS LETTER IS FOR THE MANAGER/SUPERVISOR OF THE TOYOTA CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DEPT. IF YOU ARE NOT THE MANAGER, PLEASE FORWARD IT TO THE MANAGER. THANK YOU.

Dear Toyota Customer Experience Manager:

On October 13, 2010, we mailed you a letter, briefly described the situation on the bad experience of harsh shift of the automatic transmission of our 2002 RAV4 vehicle, together with copies of repair invoices. (see attached document).

Unfortunately, today we got a letter from your company, declined our request for reimbursement. We do not understand why.

As a loyal Toyota customer, we have purchased three Toyota vehicles in past ten years. They are 2001 Corrola, 2002 RAV4, and 2008 Tundra.

The RAV4 ran well until early this year, we experienced harsh shift when the vehicle reached the speed about 20 to 30 miles/hour. At this moment, you have to pump the accelerate pedal several times to "gear in", after the vehicle reach over 35 miles/hour, it ran OK. Several times on the local roads, the car behind our vehicle almost hit our rear bumper due to the sudden slow down of the vehicle because of the harsh shifting. It was horrifying.

On May 11, 2010, we took the vehicle to the local Toyota dealer, Star Toyota in League City, Texas, after diagnostic, we were told that the transmission was broke and we need to replace the transmission and the ECU. The estimated cost would be $4835.40. We thought it was too expensive to afford, therefore, we paid $98.00 for the diagnostic fee to Star Toyota and took our vehicle home, trying to find a less expensive place to repair our car.

We stacked the vehicle for over a month in our garage, then we tried a local repair shop, Morrow's Transmission on June 21, 2010. They diagnosed that fault code 0755, solenoid "B" shifting malfunction. They cleaned the solenoid and tested other solenoids, and charged us $195.00. but the harsh shift problems still existed.

On June 28, 2010, we learned there was company called Check Engine, Etc. in Brooklyn, New York, they repair the ECU. We then shipped our ECU to this company and had it repaired. After we put it back on, the vehicle ran OK.

Not long after that, we received your letter of ZTL- Certain 2001 through 2003 Model Year RAV4 vehicles Customer Support Program. It tells very clearly on what to do if we previously paid for the repair of the vehicle due to the harsh shift problem. We then prepared the documents and mail to you, anticipating to receive a refund check. But to our astonishment, we got a decline letter.

We are totally puzzled that our vehicle "does not meet the criteria for reimbursement under CSP )1-03my Rav4 Transaxle Ecm Warranty Enhancement" as your decline letter stated. We need to know WHY? We need a satisfactory explanation.

It is quite clear that every expense we submitted for reimbursement is directly related to the repair of the harsh shift problem.

Think it this way, if we had our vehicle replaced the transmission and the ECU on the first hand when we took our vehicle to Star Toyota dealer, we would have our refund check by now. That is $4835.40. almost five thousand dollars.

However, we only submitted a total expenses only $717.04 last time, but, you refused to refund. TELL US WHY? We need a satisfied reply.

Do you really want to pay $5000, rather than $700?

Regards,

DO NOT BUY TOYOTA. THE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE ARE NO LONGER AS GOOD.

TRANSACTION AND COMPLAINT SUMMARY:

My transaction with Arlington Toyota occurred on Aug 31, 2010 when I bought a 2004 BMW X5, with an odometer reading of 61, 102, from their dealership in Palatine, IL. My complaint is about their unfair and deceptive business practices as well as false advertisement.

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS:
Available uppon request: Email from mossberger the online employee at Arlington Toyota as well as the online posting/advertisement
DETAILS:

Arlington Toyota’s advertisement states that every single pre-owned vehicle is backed with a warranty. Their advertisement is false. From my experience having bought a car there, this is just an advertising scam written to bring people in. Having responded to their ad, I specifically asked Jeff, one of the managers, about the warranty. He stated that the car has no warranty and it comes ‘as-is’. By ‘as-is, ’ both verbally and via email, what they meant was ‘as-is’ on a car that was safe and in great condition. Believing what they said, I bought the car on August 31st, 2010; it is a 2004 BMW X5 with 61, 102 miles.

Less than two months later, I discovered that it had serious engine issues and that it will cost about $15, 000 to replace. The BMW dealership where I took the vehicle, after being concerned about strange noise, made me aware of this. BMW service manager, Doug, shared that BMW engines are strong and he was surprised that an engine at 64100 miles suffers from these issues. In addition, Doug looked up this car’s history and he informed me that this car was under a 5 year manufacture warranty with free regular maintenance, which meant that changing oil was for free for the duration of the warranty. The last time the car was in for free regular maintenance is in 2006 while the free regular maintenance was in effect until 2009. Basing my conclusion on Doug’s words, I conclude that the car was not well kept and maintained like Miss Mossberger informed me, contrary to what the Arlington Toyota Dealership is claiming. Who would pay for an oil change at a random shop when he/she can get free oil change from the dealer? Would Toyota Arlington have known that? I believe they would have and they actually did, but they used a deceptive phrases and assurances to convince me that the car was in a great condition “great condition, ” “well kept” “maintained”.

Either the car never got the so-called rigorous mechanical and safety inspection or when it did it did not pass and they made me believe that it did.

Immediately after having signed the paperwork I began to doubt their ethics. While still on Arlington Toyota’s property I discovered that the back seat seatbelts did not work. I found out when trying to strap in my four month old baby in her car seat. When I brought this to the attention of Ziad, the sales rep, his manager instructed him not to fix it since the car was sold ‘as-is’ and it is not their responsibility anymore. That incident showed that the car was not safe; it will be a risk on my 4 month old baby.

Something else to consider but that I can not prove is the condition of the oil, which the dealership stated it changed but it did not. On a routine check, while the car was at 61, 500 miles, I discovered that the oil extremely dark and dirty. Through this I discovered that the dealership did not change all fluids like they stated. I can not prove that because I chanced the oil myself. I wanted to get it analyzed, but it was brought to my attention that if a certified shop changed the oil and sent a sample to lab that will be more acceptable legally. Something that I can prove is that the oil cap has a ton of residue on it from the dirt of the oil. A BMW 318 with 200, 000 miles odometer reading that my brother owns and maintains regularly had a way cleaner cap. Compare 61, 102 miles car to a 200, 000 miles car.

Additionally, the advertisement stated that the car was supposed to come with a rear entertainment system with DVD but it did not – it only came with the monitors

When I noticed these couple of issues I started to dig deeper into the condition of the car and compare it to the advertisement. It was then that I found out that there is a lot more. Ultimately, they sold me a car with a different condition and less-equipped than the car advertised.

The car has clearly been in an accident which I failed to see or notice, but several people have noticed the way the car has been fixed and when it was brought to my attention I was shocked, and I am sure having certified technicians and personnel makes Toyota Arlington very capable of noticing what regular people have noticed. Toyota Arlington did not share that even though I specifically asked about that. It is available at any time for a 3rd party body inspection, which again I was misinformed by the e mail communication as well as the posting.

Right now I have a $19, 100 loan for a car that needs a $15, 000 to run.

I have filed a complaint against Toyota Arlington through the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the specialist closed the case with a ‘resolved status;’ the specialist closed the case because I signed the ‘AS IS’ paper work. It seems like the BBB agent forgot that I am not complaining about the fact that I signed the ‘as-is’ paper work. I don’t mind an ‘as- is’ car as long as the seller discloses everything and is honest. At least I know what to expect and what I am getting myself into. But who in full mental health buys a $20, 000 car that needs a $15, 000 engine unless he/she is either mentally challenged or has been misled and deceived into purchasing it? If they don’t want to give the warranty that their advertisement mentioned then at least they must be honest and disclose everything to buyer. I was not provided with any maintenance history report, or the rigorous mechanical and safety inspection report, or the car fax of the car or any information what so ever. Toyota Arlington did not show any good ethical business practices; they led me to believe their ad and words and sold me a car that does not match their descriptions; and in addition, eliminating the warranty from the sale.

Arlington Toyota claimed that they offered me a service contract that I declined. This claim is not true and unethical, after believing their assurances they only asked me to sign an ‘as-is’ ‘no warranty’ in addition to some registration paperwork.

I purchased my toyota rav4 at sunrise toyota in oakdale nyo oct 12 2009. I was told that I could cancel my vehicle service agreement if I liked during the purchase.
I filled out a cancellation request at dealer in mgr office on nov 11 2009, I have copy. nothing happens. no action
I went to dmv to add my wife to reg, and find they registered the car as a 4 cyl, when it is a 6 cyl, I informed toyota dealer on aug 11 210. nothing happens. no action. only they can change it.

In June 2009, I bought a used 2008 Toyota Sienna CE with only 25K miles on it from a local dealership. As of today, November 26, 2010, the van has 37K miles on it and I have had 3 flat tires. I replaced the 2 front tires at 29K miles and replaced the rear tires at 36K miles (high mileage quality tires). When I replaced the rear tires, the mechanic questioned if I would like to replace the front tires because they looked worn. I told the mechanic there was only 8K miles on the front tires! He then told me that Toyota Sienna's eat front tires due to a front-end design flaw. He suggested I rotate tires often and expect to replace tire my tires often (like every 30K miles). Who can afford that? It's one thing to have a defective part on a vehicle, it's another thing to have a design defect that the consumer ends up paying for. To my knowledge Toyota claims no fault. I am going to trade it ASAP.

I leased an RX350 from Keyes Toyota. I was told during negotiations that they will pay for the remaining months on my leased Mercedes. I told them that I had either 2 or 3 months left. They said it was not a problem. They never said that I had to be the one to find out the exact months. I didn't know if I had paid the last month or not when I first leased the mercedes. They said, "no problem."

When I received a bill to pay for a month on the Mercedes I called the salesman at Keyes. His response was, "If we had to pay that month then your lease payments would have been more." Since we were with him only one day and leased the car that day, how did he know that we would have had to pay more. This leads me to believe that he knew all along what was due on the Mercedes at the time I was there or he was just lying.

So they didn't pay all the months of their verbal commitment. I now know that I was ripped off by them, they knew exactly what they were doing.

I should have not gotten the car that day. I should have gone home and found out exactly how many months I had left on the Mercedes but they led me to believe that it was up to THEM to get that information.

I took my '05 Sienna to Toyota and spoke to the service advior, Dana Kent, who I explained my problem to. I told him my passenger side sliding door would not close properly and that I knew of a Technical Service Bulletin that described the procedure to fix the issue. I also advised Mr. Kent that I had an extended warranty and provided the information necessary to contact them. Mr. Kent said he would call me. Later that day he did call and told me that there was a cable, the motor, and a hinge that needed replacing to repair the door, but that the warranty company would only pay for the cable. The TSB outlines the part number and procedures to fix the cable without ordering the motor. I understood the hinge needed replacement, but that seemed to be almost an afterthought. After a number of calls between me, Kent, and the warranty company, I understood the problem. It seems that Kent was trying to sell me the motor that didn't need replacing at my costs - still the hinge was an afterthought. The warranty company advised me to take the vehicle to a different dealer as they suspected Kent and Milton Ruben Toyota were trying to convince me to buy an unnecessary part. The warranty company's inspector looked at the van and agreed to pay for the cable, but I was not sure that was the problem. I took the vehicle to Bob Richards Toyota in North Augusta, SC and described the problem. I also detailed my discussion with Kent and Milton Ruben. The service advisor at Bob Richards called me to say that the hinge was the only part in need of replacement and questioned Kent's motives. So, a $2400 bill that would have cost me $1900 was repaired by my own costs of less than $400. I am satisfied with the outcome and glad I discovered Milton Ruben's distrustful business operations and Dana Kent's refusal to admit when he had been caught.

We drove from Texarkana to look at car this dealership had online on October 23, 2010. We called that morning to let them know we were on our way to view the car and when we arrived we found out the car had been sold. The dealership then proceeded to find another car of similarity to the one that sold.

At the time we test drove this car Grapevine was under a tornado warning and rain was pouring down so we were unable to look at the car completely; however, we did assume that because this was a certified used vehicle that it was still going to be a great buy.

The car they showed us did not have leather seats and we wanted that option. They said they could install the leather and it would only take a couple days. Four days later I drove all the way to Sulphur Springs to pick up the car. Two days later it was discovered the vanity mirror above the drivers seat was completely smashed. I called our sales person and he informed they would mail a new mirror to me and that I could install it myself. I never recieved the mirror.

After doing a complete look over of the vehicle it was found to have several deep scratches along the trunk, rear fender, and roof. It was also missing a piece in the panel of the door, chunks of the interior were missing from the back door. The leather had unfinished ends sticking out, the front windshield had several chips in it, along the entire front of the vehicle hood and grill there are bubbles of paint.

I called our sales person again and he said he would find out what he could do, but never returned my call. The following Wednesday I sent an e-mail to the general manager along with pictures and once again did not recieve any kind of acknowledgement. The following Monday my husband called and they told him not to worry that they would fix it all up for us. We then drove the vehicle all the way out to Dallas. Today I left a couple messages for someone to get back to me regarding the dealership tag that expires tomorrow on the loaner car. I was ingnored and passed around. Finally I was able to get a hold of someone who told me the car would be ready tomorrow but that I would have to drive all the way out to Dallas once again to pick up the car. I asked to speak to the highest level of management when he informed me that he was. After explaining to him the fiasco of this entire situation, he preceded to tell me that as far as the dealership was concerned they had done above and beyond what was expected of them. I pretty much got the impression that I didn't matter and that customer service is not important to this dealership.

I urge anyone looking at purchasing a car from this dealership to make sure they explain ALL of the details in price, and in services you are paying for.

They lied to us about what we were paying for, and what the certification process really entails.

Toyota allowes you to get the gap insurance. I had it and then I lost my job. I tried to get them to pay the loan with the gap insurance. They refused. My truck was repo'd. I received a check from toyota. I'll never have the gap insurance or a toyota ever again. I am now a ford owner from the check they sent me.

I was told I was getting a rate. I was never told it was an estimation and subject to change. I signed a contract on that rate. A week later I was called and said the rate went up…..5%! I went in and even expressed to Rod Sanderson that the rate was so high that I didn’t think I could afford the payments on the car. He said nothing.

I expressed this to a friend of mine who works at another dealership. I told her I was planning on re-financing the car once a dispute on my credit report was fixed. She told me the rate was so high that no bank would refinance the car for me. I then called a lawyer and he told me that they can’t raise a rate once you sign a contract.

I then called the GM, Mike Blalog, and he told me that the first rate was “an estimation”, and that if I didn’t like that rate, I could have given the car back before signing the new rate. Well, that would have been great if Mr. Sanderson had informed me of this when I told him I didn’t think I’d be able to afford the car with the new rate.

My lawyer friend then called Mr. Blalog and talked with him about the situation. Mr. Blalog assured him that all his employees stand by corporate protocol and that he was sure that Mr. Sanderson informed me of all of these things. He did not.

I understand that it was stupid on my part to sign more paperwork without going over it with a lawyer, but that does not excuse their bait-and-switch techniques. I feel betrayed, seeing that I’ve bought a new car from them in the past and paid it off in 3 years. I thought maybe I would have been treated honestly and fair since I was a loyal customer. I hate to have to resort to this, but I am going to have to report World Toyota to many different agencies, and tell everyone I know to stay far away from this dealership.